JP2005242899A - Collaborative server and system, and method and program for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a collaborative system, which may realize the general versatility and the reduction of communication traffic without depending on a machine type and an OS type. <P>SOLUTION: The collaborative system includes a collaborative server 200, which is connected to a terminal 100 that receives a Web page via a network, stores the Web page, and distributes the Web page as a working image screen to be used for collaborating by the terminal 100; and a chat server 300 for managing a chat session. The collaborative server 200 participates as a chat client in the chat session, which is managed by the chat server 300, and distributes an operational instruction for the working image screen as a chat message to each of the terminals 100, and also facilitates a collaborative work by reloading the working image screen by each of the terminals 100 in accordance with the operational instruction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a collaboration system that performs collaborative work using a plurality of computers connected via a network.

  Input / output and data processing can be synchronized between a plurality of computers connected via a network, so that a common image can be displayed on a display device of the plurality of computers, The input can be reflected on each other computer. Today, a collaboration system in which a plurality of users use these computers and perform a joint work by displaying a common work screen on a display device of each computer is widely used.

  Conventionally, as a collaboration system of this kind, as in the case of Lotus Sametime of IBM-Lotus in the United States, the screen displayed on the display device of the computer is controlled as a bitmap image by the control of the application program. There is a system that displays the screen.

  As another conventional technique, there is a web collaboration system that displays the same web page on each computer by transmitting and receiving operation information on the web browser between the computers (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this type of web collaboration system, a computer used by a user acquires an HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) file via a proxy server (collaboration server) to display a web page, and page transitions in one computer System to display the same web page on each computer (for example, see Patent Document 2), and by embedding an anchor tag in the HTML file cached by the proxy server, it is displayed on each computer. A system (for example, see Patent Document 3) that can specify an arbitrary place on a web page is proposed.

  Furthermore, users who participate in collaborative work by combining these collaboration systems with a so-called chat system that allows text data input on any computer to be displayed on other computers for real-time conversation. Has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 4).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-124461 JP 2001-51932 A JP 2002-149640 A JP 2003-150527 A

As described above, various proposals have conventionally been made regarding collaboration systems that support collaborative work by a plurality of users using a plurality of computers connected via a network.
However, these conventional collaboration technologies have the following problems.

In a system in which a display screen is transmitted and received as a bitmap image and the same screen is displayed by a plurality of computers, the amount of communication data increases because image data is transmitted and received, and the load on network traffic increases.
Also, since a bitmap image is used, the display image depends on the display size and resolution in the display device of each computer. Therefore, although the entire image is displayed on a predetermined computer, a part of the edge of the image image may be cut off from the display screen on other predetermined computers, which hinders collaborative work. There was a case to come.
FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a work screen is displayed on a display device having a different resolution in the related art in which a bitmap image of a work screen is exchanged between computers.
In FIG. 20, when a predetermined location (star mark in the figure: ★) is specified as an attention location on the work screen displayed on the high-resolution terminal device A, the work screen displayed on the low-resolution terminal device B. Then, the position of the attention location is out of the display range of the work screen, and it is difficult to recognize where the attention is focused on in the joint work.
Further, in this system, processing dependent on the OS (operating system) is required to acquire the image of the display screen. Therefore, the types of OS that can be used in a computer that uses the collaboration system are limited.

On the other hand, the web collaboration system described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above uses a web page as a display screen, so communication between computers only requires operation information for the web browser, thereby reducing communication traffic load. Is done. With regard to the display image, it is possible to visually recognize the entire image without depending on the display size of the display device of the computer by operating (scrolling) the web browser.
However, in order to reflect operations such as input on the display screen of the web page on the display screen of other computers, these computers must use a common or compatible web browser, The types of web browsers and OSs that can be used are limited.
In addition, simply displaying a web page as a display screen makes it difficult to clearly show to other users which part of the display screen a predetermined user participating in the collaborative work is paying attention to.

In the system described in Patent Document 3, an arbitrary place on the display screen (web page) is specified without depending on the type of the web browser or OS by embedding an anchor tag in the HTML file. It is possible to display a pointer used in collaborative work, or to control scrolling of the web browser screen so that a specified location is displayed.
However, this prior art performs pointer display control and web browser scroll control using a fixed anchor tag embedded in an HTML file as a mark. For this reason, it is necessary that an application program for notifying other computers of the synchronization location in the pointer display and screen scrolling and the execution environment thereof are prepared in the computer that is the user terminal. Therefore, depending on the functions and operating environment of the computer, there are cases where the functions provided by the system of Patent Document 3 such as pointer display and screen scrolling synchronization cannot be used even though the display screen can be displayed as a web page.

The prior art described in Patent Document 4 realizes communication support between users by combining a chat system with a collaboration system.
However, even in this prior art, communication between the collaboration server and the user terminal is performed in the same manner as in other web collaboration systems, so the types of web browsers and OSs that can be used are limited, or anchor tags are used. The same problem as in the above-described Patent Documents 1 to 3 that an execution environment for synchronizing the display position of the pointer and the screen scroll as a mark remains.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce communication traffic between computers in a collaborative work in a collaboration system by a plurality of computers connected via a network.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a highly versatile collaboration system and method that synchronizes display and various operations without depending on the model or OS type and without requiring a special application program. The purpose.
In addition, the present invention provides a versatile collaboration system that does not depend on the model or OS type and does not require a special application program. It is still another object to realize communication between them using a chat system.

The present invention that achieves the above object is realized as the following collaboration system that supports collaborative work by a plurality of terminal devices connected by a network. This collaboration system includes a collaboration server that acquires and holds a web page and distributes it as a work screen used for joint work by a terminal device, and a chat server that manages a chat session. It participates as a chat client in a chat session to be managed.
The chat server includes a storage device that stores a session management table for registering the identification information of a session in chat and the identification information of a client participating in the session in association with each other, and manages the identification information of the collaboration server as a client. Register in the table.

Here, this collaboration server acquires and holds a web page, and distributes it as a work screen used for joint work by the terminal device, and a chat client as a chat client for a chat performed between a plurality of terminal devices. A chat function execution unit for participation, and the chat function execution unit distributes an operation instruction for a work screen to each terminal device as a chat message.
More preferably, the chat function execution unit generates a chat message that describes an operation instruction for the work screen in a command format that can be read by the control unit of the web browser included in the terminal device, and distributes the chat message to the terminal device.

More specifically, the work screen control unit updates the data file (HTML file) of the held web page in response to a request from the terminal device, and the chat function execution unit uses the work screen control unit to update the data file. When an operation on is performed, an instruction that prompts the terminal device to reload a web page that is a work screen is distributed as a chat message.
More specifically, the work screen control unit accepts a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page that is the work screen from the terminal device, and makes the web page corresponding to the location designated by this request. An anchor tag (dynamic anchor described later) is written in the data file, and the name of the anchor tag is added to the URL of the data file. Each time a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page as a work screen is received from the terminal device, the anchor tag is used as a data file corresponding to the location designated by the request without changing the name. Move to the upper position. Thereby, when this web page is reloaded, the portion where the anchor tag is written is displayed at the top of the work screen.

  In addition, each time the work screen control unit receives a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page that is the work screen from the terminal device, the work screen control unit corresponds to the location designated by the request. An anchor tag (history anchor to be described later) is added. Thereby, it is possible to easily return to the place set as the attention place in the joint work session. Further, the chat function execution unit holds a log of text exchanged in the chat, so that the work screen control unit accepts a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page, and then the web page A chat log made until a request made by designating another part above is accepted can be associated with an anchor tag corresponding to the corresponding part on the web page.

  Preferably, the chat function execution unit analyzes the text exchanged in the chat to check whether or not a command for the collaboration server is included, and when such a command is included, the content of the command And the processing based on this command is executed by the control means of the collaboration server.

  The present invention that achieves the above object is also realized as a collaborative work support method for supporting collaborative work by a plurality of terminal devices by a collaboration server connected to the plurality of terminal devices via a network. In this collaborative work support method, the collaboration server first distributes a web page, which is a collaborative work screen stored in the storage device, to each terminal device. Next, the collaboration server receives a request from a predetermined terminal device, and updates the data file of the web page based on this request. And a collaboration server transmits the instruction | indication which prompts the reload of the web page which is a work screen with respect to several terminal devices as a chat message.

  More specifically, the step in which the collaboration server updates the data file of the web page includes receiving the chat message transmitted from the terminal device in the chat and analyzing the text of the chat message; As a result, when the text is a command, the process includes a step of analyzing the content of the command, and a step of executing a process requested by the command based on the result of the command analysis.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be realized as a program that controls a computer to realize each function of the collaboration server described above, or a program that executes processing corresponding to each step in the above-described collaborative work support method. This program can be provided by being stored and distributed in a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or other recording media, or distributed via a network.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, not only communication traffic is reduced by configuring the work screen of the collaborative work with the web page, but also the progress in the collaborative work by the operation instruction by the chat message and the reloading of the web page. Therefore, it is possible to realize a highly versatile collaboration system and method that do not depend on the model or OS type.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a collaboration system according to the present embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the collaboration system according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of terminal devices 100 for performing joint work, a collaboration server 200 that supports joint work by the terminal devices 100, the terminal devices 100, and the terminal devices. The chat server 300 which implement | achieves information exchange between 100 and the collaboration server 200 by a chat system is provided. The chat server 300, the terminal device 100, and the collaboration server 200 are connected via the Internet or other networks.
The collaboration system of the present embodiment provides a work screen for use in collaborative work as a web page. Also, operation information for collaborative work is performed by chat. Therefore, data transmitted / received between the devices is a document file (hereinafter referred to as an HTML file) constituting a web page, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) request, its response, chat data, and the like. .

The terminal device 100 is realized by an information device such as a personal computer, a workstation, another computer device, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) having a network function, or a mobile phone. Although two terminal devices 100 are illustrated in FIG. 1, actually three or more terminal devices may be connected. In the following description, when it is necessary to distinguish between the terminal device 100 that starts the collaboration session and the terminal device 100 that participates in the started collaboration session, the former is the organizer terminal device 100a and the latter is the Although described as the participant terminal apparatus 100b, when it is not necessary to distinguish these, it describes as the terminal apparatus 100 only.
The collaboration server 200 and the chat server 300 are realized by a personal computer, a workstation, or other computer devices. In FIG. 1, the collaboration server 200 and the chat server 300 are described as different devices. However, the present invention is not limited to such a hardware configuration, and each server is realized by a physically single computer. Needless to say, you can.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computer device suitable for realizing the terminal device 100, the collaboration server 200, and the chat server 300 illustrated in FIG.
The computer apparatus shown in FIG. 2 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 which is a calculation means, an M / B (motherboard) chipset 12 and a main memory 13 connected to the CPU 11 via a CPU bus, Similarly, a video card 14 connected to the CPU 11 via an M / B chipset 12 and an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), a display 20 for displaying and outputting an image image generated by the video card 14, and a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) ) A magnetic disk device (HDD) 15 connected to the M / B chipset 12 via the bus, a network interface 16, and a low-speed bus such as a bridge circuit 17 and an ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus from the PCI bus. Connected to the M / B chipset 12 via And a lexical table disk drive 18 and a keyboard / mouse 19.

  Note that FIG. 2 merely illustrates the hardware configuration of a computer device that implements each device of the present embodiment, and various other configurations can be employed as long as the present embodiment is applicable. For example, instead of providing the video card 14, only the video memory may be mounted and the image data may be processed by the CPU 11. As an external storage device, ATA (AT Attachment), SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), etc. A CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable) or DVD-RAM (Digital Versatile Disc Random Access Memory) drive may be provided via the interface. Further, as a configuration for realizing the collaboration server 200 and the chat server 300, input / output devices such as the video card 14, the display 20, and the keyboard / mouse 19 are not necessarily provided.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the terminal device 100 configuring the collaboration system according to the present embodiment.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the terminal device 100 edits the HTML file, the communication unit 110 that transmits and receives HTML files and chat messages via the network, the web display control unit 120 that displays the received HTML file, and the HTML file. An editing unit 130 for chatting and a chat control unit 140 for chatting. When the terminal device 100 is configured by the computer device shown in FIG. 2, the communication unit 110 is realized by the network interface 16, and the web display control unit 120 and the chat control unit 140 are the program-controlled CPU 11, video card 14, and display. The editing unit 130 is realized by the program-controlled CPU 11. As a program for realizing the function of the web display control unit 120, an existing web browser can be used. Similarly, as a program for realizing the function of the chat control unit 140, an existing chat application program can be used. . As a program for realizing the function of the editing unit 130, an existing word processor or editor having a function of editing text and converting it into an HTML file can be used.

  In the collaboration system of the present embodiment, information exchange between the terminal devices 100 and information exchange between the terminal device 100 and the collaboration server 200 during a session by collaboration are performed by the chat system. That is, the user of the terminal device 100 is displayed in the chat window displayed on the display 20 by the chat control unit 140 while referring to the web page display window displayed on the display 20 by the web display control unit 120. You can collaborate by reading the chat text and entering a chat message. Specific operations for joint work will be described later.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a window displayed on the display device of the terminal device 100.
In FIG. 4, a web page as a work screen is displayed in a web page display window 401, and messages exchanged in the chat are displayed in a chat window 402. In the illustrated example, the chat window 402 includes an input form for inputting a message, a button for transmitting the input message, and a button for terminating the chat (denoted as “Close” in the figure). Button).
When the terminal device 100 has a display device having a relatively large display screen such as a personal computer, the web page display window 401 and the chat window 402 can be displayed simultaneously to proceed with the work. However, when the terminal device 100 has a display device having a small display screen such as a PDA or a mobile phone, the operation is performed while switching the display of the web page display window 401 and the chat window 402. It becomes.

In the case of performing only operations (scrolling of the screen, page transition, input to the input form, etc.) using the functions provided by the web browser as a joint work on the web page displayed by the web browser The editing unit 130 is not an essential configuration requirement.
As described above, the terminal device 100 according to this embodiment receives at least an HTML file via a network, displays a web page, performs an operation based on the function of the web browser, and transmits web browser operation information. In addition, it is only necessary to be able to input / output and transmit / receive data in the chat. Therefore, the model, the OS used, and the type of web browser are not limited, and in addition to the computer apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the collaboration server 200 configuring the collaboration system according to the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 5, the function of the collaboration server 200 includes an application layer, a control layer, and a data layer. The application layer includes a web page component 210 and a chat component 220. The web page component 210, which is an application, acquires a web page serving as a work screen from an external web server and creates a cache page with an anchor. Then, the cached web page is sent to the terminal device 100 and a command from the terminal device 100 is accepted. In addition, the chat component 220 logs in to the chat server 300 as a client, processes a command from the terminal device 100 transmitted via chat, and transmits a command message from the collaboration server 200 to the terminal device 100. . Then, a chat log is recorded.

  The web page component 210 is realized by, for example, the program-controlled CPU 11 shown in FIG. 2, and a web server unit 211 having a function as a web server and a web client unit 212 having a function as a client for another web server. And a cache page generation unit 213, a web request analysis unit 214, and a command panel display unit 215 for performing processing on web pages in collaboration based on communication with the terminal device 100.

The web server unit 211 receives a request from the terminal device 100 and sends the request to the web request analysis unit 214, and sends the requested web page (HTML file) to the terminal device 100.
The web client unit 212 acquires a web page serving as a work screen from an external web server (not shown) according to a command included in the request received from the terminal device 100 by the web server unit 211.
The cache page generation unit 213 generates an anchored web page based on the web page acquired by the web client unit 212. The generated web page data is cached in a web page storage unit 241 described later.
The web request analysis unit 214 analyzes a request transmitted as an HTTP request from the terminal device 100 and calls a corresponding component.
The command panel display unit 215 generates a tool displayed on the terminal device 100. The tool will be described later.

The chat component 220 is realized by the program-controlled CPU 11 shown in FIG. 2, for example, and includes a chat client unit 221, a chat text analysis unit 222, a chat recording unit 223, a command analysis unit 224, and a chat command generation unit. 225.
The chat client unit 221 connects to the chat server 300 and participates in chat as a client of the chat system.
The chat text analysis unit 222 analyzes the text sent from the chat server 300 and checks whether the text is a command based on a prescribed grammar. If it is a command, it is sent to the command analysis unit 224. In addition, text other than the command is sent to the chat recording unit 223.
The chat recording unit 223 temporarily records the chat text in a storage unit such as the main memory 13, and sends the chat text to the chat log management unit 233 collectively for each attention point described later.
The command analysis unit 224 analyzes the content of the text recognized as a command by the analysis of the chat text analysis unit 222 and recognizes the content of the command. The processing content of the recognized command is transmitted to the command processing unit 234.
The chat command generation unit 225 generates a command message to be sent as a control command to the terminal device 100.

Each function of the control layer shown in FIG. 5 is realized by, for example, the program-controlled CPU 11 shown in FIG. This control layer includes a session management unit 231, a web page control unit 232, a chat log management unit 233, and a command processing unit 234 as functions for managing client sessions, web pages, and chat logs in collaboration. .
The session management unit 231 manages a joint work session in collaboration. Session management can be performed using a session management table described later.
The web page control unit 232 manages the anchored web page generated by the cache page generation unit 213.
The chat log management unit 233 manages the chat log in association with a point of interest described later. A method of associating with a point of interest will be described later.
The command processing unit 234 processes the actual state (contents) of commands transmitted as chat and web requests, and calls necessary components.

Each function of the data layer is realized by, for example, the main memory 13 or the magnetic disk device 15 shown in FIG. This data layer includes a web page storage unit 241, a session management table storage unit 242, and a chat log storage unit 243 as functions for storing the actual status of web page and chat log data and session information.
The web page storage unit 241 stores the anchored web page generated by the cache page generation unit 213.
The session management table storage unit 242 stores a session management table for managing session information for joint work in collaboration. In the session management table, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the session ID and the address of the terminal device 100 participating in the session are registered in association with each other. Also, identification information for identifying the organizer terminal device 100a and the participant terminal device 100b is registered. In addition, it can replace with the address of the terminal device 100 and can register user ID of the user who participates in a session. In this case, regardless of which terminal device 100 the user uses to participate in the session, the user himself can be uniquely identified by the user ID, so that access control for the user can be performed. However, when registering a user ID, a table for associating the user ID with an address is separately required.
The chat log storage unit 243 stores the text (chat log) of the contents exchanged in the chat.

  In the configuration of the collaboration server 200 shown in FIG. 5, the work page control means in which the web page component 210, the web page control unit 232, the command processing unit 234, and the web page storage unit 241 perform processing on the web page that is the work screen. Function as. In addition, the chat component 220, the chat log management unit 233, the command processing unit 234, and the chat log storage unit 243 cause the collaboration server 200 to participate in the chat session as a chat client, exchange commands using chat messages, and perform collaborative work. It functions as a chat function execution means for performing progress control.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the chat server 300 constituting the collaboration system of the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 7, the chat server 300 includes a session management unit 310 that manages a chat session, a message transmission / reception unit 320 that controls a network interface to exchange messages with a chat client, A chat content storage unit 330 that stores the content in a storage device.
As described above, in this embodiment, the collaboration server 200 accesses the chat server 300 as a chat client and participates in the chat. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the chat client includes the terminal device 100 and the collaboration server 200.

The session management unit 310 is realized by, for example, the program-controlled CPU 11 and the storage unit such as the main memory 13 and the magnetic disk device 15 shown in FIG. 2, and manages the chat session performed in this embodiment. In session management, the session ID and the address of the client of the session (in the case of a chat system, the terminal device 100 and the collaboration server 200) are registered in association with each other in a session management table similar to that shown in FIG. Can be performed.
The message transmission / reception unit 320 is implemented by the program-controlled CPU 11 and the network interface 16 shown in FIG. 2, for example, and controls transmission / reception of messages between clients in a chat session.
The chat content storage unit 330 is realized by storage means such as the main memory 13 and the magnetic disk device 15 shown in FIG. 2, for example, and stores a log of the executed chat session.

Here, a method for realizing collaborative work by the system of the present embodiment will be specifically described.
In the present embodiment, collaborative work is performed through synchronization of work screens (web pages, contents) displayed on the terminal device 100 and information exchange and progress control using a chat system.
First, the work screen synchronization will be described.
As described above, in this embodiment, the work screen is provided as a web page. Therefore, by writing specific information indicating the location in the HTML file of the web page of the work screen, each terminal device 100 that displays the web page can indicate the specific location of the work screen.
Specifically, an HTML anchor tag is written at a desired position in the HTML file. Thereby, in each terminal device 100 participating in the collaborative work, by reloading (re-reading) the web page that is the work screen, it is possible to jump to a desired position in the web page and synchronize the display state of the screen. Is possible. Further, an image tag may be further written at the position where the anchor tag is written, and an arbitrary image file may be linked. In this way, it is possible not only to synchronize the work screens but also to display other desired participants (images) by displaying a desired place (image) on the web page.

In the present embodiment, as an anchor tag, an anchor tag for dynamically indicating a currently focused location (referred to as a dynamic anchor) and an anchor tag for indicating a location that has been noted even once in collaborative work ( Two types of tags (referred to as history anchors) are used.
The dynamic anchor indicates a location that is currently focused on in the joint work, and the description position in the HTML file is changed every time the focused location changes. In addition, by adding (linking) the name of the dynamic anchor to the URL of the web page on the work screen, when jumping (or reloading) to the web page, the dynamic anchor of the web page is arranged. Jump to the place.
The history anchor is described at the position where the dynamic anchor has been described in the past in the collaborative work and the position where the current dynamic anchor is described. This history anchor is used to refer to the past attention location in the collaborative work, or to associate with the past attention location corresponding to the chat log when saving the chat log described later.

Next, information exchange and work progress control using the chat system will be described.
As described above, in the present embodiment, information exchange in joint work is performed using an existing chat system. Further, by allowing the collaboration server 200 to participate in the chat as a client, control of the progress of the joint work is realized by a chat message distributed to each terminal device 100.
Specifically, first, when a user participating in a collaborative work pays attention to a predetermined position on the work screen, the terminal device 100 used by the user is operated, and the attention location is notified to the collaboration server 200. The In response to this, the collaboration server 200 writes an anchor tag at the corresponding position of the HTML file corresponding to the target location of the web page on the work screen, and updates the URL of the web page to the URL including the anchor as described above. . Then, a chat message that prompts reloading of the web page is transmitted to each terminal device 100. If the web page is reloaded in each terminal device 100 in response to the chat message, the display state of the work screen is synchronized.

In order to realize this, the collaboration server 200 of the present embodiment acquires text exchanged in a chat session managed by the chat server 300 by the chat client unit 221 of the chat component 220 provided in the application layer. The chat text acquired by the chat client unit 221 is analyzed by the chat text analysis unit 222 and classified into a command and a text other than the command. The command is analyzed by the command analysis unit 224 of the control layer, and the command processing unit 234 executes processing according to the command. On the other hand, texts other than commands are held by the chat recording unit 223 and stored in the chat log storage unit 243 of the data layer under the control of the chat log management unit 233 of the control layer.
If the chat command generation unit 225 is called under the control of the command processing unit 234 and a chat message including a predetermined command is generated, the chat message is transmitted to the chat server 300 by the chat client unit 221, and the chat client Are distributed to each terminal device 100.

Now, when performing joint work according to the present embodiment, each terminal device 100 needs to perform the following operation.
1. The collaboration server 200 is notified of the noticed part of the web page to be communicated to other collaborators.
2. The notice message of the attention location sent by the chat message from the collaboration server 200 is interpreted and displayed on the web page or the web page is reloaded in the web browser according to the notice message.
As means for realizing these functions, in this embodiment, application modules called tools and helper functions are prepared. These modules are downloaded from the collaboration server 200 to the terminal device 100 and executed as a function of the web display control unit 120. Details of these modules will be described below.

The tool is a module for performing the above operation 1.
The basic functions of the tool are the following two.
-A function that allows the organizer of a collaborative work to open a work page web page shared with other participants and start sharing the web page (sharing start function)
-A function for participants (including the organizer) to notify other participants of their attention location (notice location notification function)
In order to realize these functions, in this embodiment, a “share start” button and a “notice point notice” button are arranged on the display screen of the terminal device 100.

As a method of arranging the “start sharing” button and the “notice point of interest” button on the screen, for example, a method using a frame of a web page and a button that opens a window different from the window displaying the web page of the work screen Can be considered as a method of displaying. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a “sharing start” button and a “notice point notice” button are arranged using a frame, and FIG. FIG.
In the example shown in FIG. 8, an HTML file capable of displaying a web page having two or more frames is used, and one of the HTML file frames includes a “start sharing” button 801 and a “notice point of interest” button. A command panel 810 in which 802 is arranged is displayed. Then, a web page to be shared (that is, a work screen) is displayed in another one frame.
On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 9, a window 920 in which a “sharing start” button 801 and a “notice point of interest notification” button 802 are arranged is displayed separately from the window 910 that displays a web page that is a work screen.
The command panel 810 shown in FIG. 8 and the window 920 shown in FIG. 9 are created by the command panel display unit 215 shown in FIG.

A helper function (hereinafter abbreviated as “helper”) is a module for performing the above two operations.
The helper has a function of analyzing a command message transmitted as a chat message from the collaboration server 200 and operating a web browser according to the content of the command message to display and redisplay (reload) a web page. Helpers do not have a user interface and operate in the background when performing collaborative work. In addition, the helper is not an essential component, and the operation performed by the helper can be replaced with a manual operation. That is, when operating manually, the user of the terminal device 100 may read the chat message, and execute a web page display / redisplay operation according to the content. The implementation of the helper depends on the implementation of the web browser of the terminal device 100 and the chat application program. Therefore, when the terminal device 100 is a PDA or a mobile phone, a helper may not be used depending on the system. In such a case, the operation of displaying and redisplaying the web page is performed manually.

Next, the operation of joint work by the collaboration system configured as described above will be described.
The operation of collaborative work according to this embodiment includes three phases: (1) start of collaborative work, (2) synchronization of content display, and (3) storage of chat logs. Hereinafter, the description will be divided into each stage.

(1) Start of collaborative work Participants of the collaborative work (including the organizer and collaboration server 200) establish a chat session as an initial operation prior to the start of a collaborative work session using a web page. As described above, since an existing system can be used as the chat system used in this embodiment, the operation for establishing a chat session is also in accordance with the conventional method. For example, a user of a predetermined terminal device 100 who is a participant in the collaborative work activates a chat application program in his / her terminal device 100 and transmits a chat session establishment request to the chat server 300. In response to this, in the chat server 300, a session management table is created, and the address of the terminal device 100 is registered together with the session ID of the established session, and managed by the session management unit 310. Other users access chat server 300 from their own terminal device 100, specify a session ID, and transmit a participation request. Thereby, in the chat server 300, the address of the terminal device 100 is registered in the session management table, and the user of the terminal device 100 can participate in the established session.

  In addition, a chat session participation request is transmitted from the chat client unit 221 of the chat component 220 of the collaboration server 200 to the chat server 300, and the collaboration server 200 is registered in the session management table as a chat client. Here, each user who participates in the collaborative work can notify the mutual establishment of the chat session for the collaborative work by any means, and can perform the above-described operation for establishing the chat session. 200 cannot know when a chat session is established. Therefore, when a new chat session is established, an invitation procedure is required to notify the collaboration server 200 of this and to allow the chat client unit 221 of the collaboration server 200 to participate in the chat session.

  For example, the session management unit 310 of the chat server 300 notifies the collaboration server 200 when a new chat session is established, and the chat client unit 221 transmits a participation request from the collaboration server 200 in response to this notification. To work. Thereby, if a new chat session is established, the collaboration server 200 can automatically participate in the session. In addition, when a new chat session is established, the session management unit 310 registers the collaboration server 200 in the created session management table, and notifies the collaboration server 200 of the session ID from the chat server 300. You can also Further, as will be described later, since a request for acquiring a web page is sent from the terminal device 100 to the collaboration server 200 in order to start collaborative work, the session ID is notified at this time, and the reception of this request is a condition. The chat client unit 221 may be operated so that a participation request is transmitted from the collaboration server 200.

After the chat session is established as described above, a web page used as a work screen is acquired and collaborative work is started.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of an operation at the start of collaborative work.
Referring to FIG. 10, when a predetermined user tries to start collaborative work, the user accesses the collaboration server 200 using the terminal device 100 to share (that is, a work screen for collaborative work). A request including the URL is transmitted (step 1001). This terminal device 100 is referred to as an organizer terminal device 100a, and a user of the organizer terminal device 100a is referred to as an organizer.

  When the collaboration server 200 receives the request by the web server unit 211 of the web page component 210, the web request analysis unit 214 analyzes the request and extracts a URL. Based on the extracted URL, the web client unit 212 The corresponding web page is acquired from a web server on the network. Then, the cache page generation unit 213 describes the dynamic anchor in the HTML file so that it points to the head of the web page, and the web page control unit 232 caches the HTML file in which the dynamic anchor is described in the web page storage unit 241. (Step 1002). The URL of the HTML file in which the dynamic anchor is described is, for example, that the URL of the HTML file of the cached work screen is http // www.aaa.com / bbb.htm and the name of the dynamic anchor is “ In the case of “Now”, the URL included in the command message is http // www.aaa.com / bbb.htm # Now.

  Then, the web server unit 211 adds the above-described tool to the cached HTML file and sends it back to the organizer terminal device 100a (step 1003). Here, as shown in FIG. 8, a command panel 810 in which tools are arranged on the work screen is displayed. In this case, the command panel display unit 215 creates an HTML file of a work screen in which the command panel 810 and the requested web page are combined as shown in FIG. To the organizer terminal device 100a. Note that when the tool is displayed in a separate window as shown in FIG. 9, the HTML file of the requested web page and the HTML file for displaying the tool are respectively transmitted to the organizer terminal device 100a. Become.

  When the organizer terminal device 100a receives the HTML file to which the command panel 810 is added, the web display control unit 120 opens a work screen display window and displays the work screen (step 1004). This work screen has two frames as shown in FIG. 8, displays a command panel 810 in one frame, and displays a requested web page in another frame.

Next, the organizer clicks a “start sharing” button 801 on the command panel 810 on which the organizer is displayed. As a result, a request including a command to start sharing is transmitted to the collaboration server 200 (step 1005).
In the collaboration server 200 that has received this request, the web request analysis unit 214 analyzes the request and extracts a sharing start command (step 1006). Then, the command processing unit 234 calls the chat command generation unit 225 according to this command. The chat command generation unit 225 creates a command message for each terminal device 100 to share the work screen, and transmits the command message to the chat server 300 via the chat client unit 221 (step 1007). This command message includes the URL of the HTML file of the work screen created in step 1003.

The chat server 300 transmits this command message (chat message) to each terminal device 100 participating in the chat session based on the session management table, and stores it in the chat content storage unit 330 (step 1008).
In each terminal device 100, a web page is displayed based on the received chat message, and the work screen is shared (step 1009). At this time, the organizer terminal device 100a does not need to perform any operation in response to the chat message received from the chat server 300 because the work screen is already displayed. On the other hand, the other terminal device 100 extracts the URL of the HTML file of the work screen from the chat message received from the chat server 300 by the web display control unit 120, and opens a window for displaying the work screen, as shown in FIG. Display a working screen. Terminal devices 100 other than the organizer terminal device 100a are referred to as participant terminal devices 100b.

The operation of extracting the URL from the chat message, acquiring the web page and displaying it on the window for displaying the work screen is automatically performed by the helper if the terminal device 100 is equipped with the helper. A method for extracting a URL from a chat message by a helper will be described later.
When no helper is installed in the terminal device 100, in each terminal device 100, the chat control unit 140 displays the chat message received from the chat server 300 in the chat window, and the user of the terminal device 100 is displayed. Based on the chat message, the web display control unit 120 is operated to acquire the HTML file of the work screen cached in the collaboration server 200, and the web page is displayed in the work screen display window.

As described above, the web page of the common work screen is displayed on the organizer terminal device 100a and the participant terminal device 100b, and the work screen is shared. In step 1009, the organizer terminal device 100a does not need to perform any operation, but extracts the URL included in the chat message received from the chat server 300 and reloads the HTML file of the work screen. It doesn't matter.
Further, in the above-described operation example, the chat session is established before starting the collaborative work. However, even when the chat session is not established in advance, the collaboration server 200 independently accesses the chat server 300. Thus, it is possible to establish a chat session and attract the organizer terminal device 100a and the participant terminal device 100b in the function of the existing chat system.

(2) Synchronization of content display When the work screen is shared and the collaborative work is started in each terminal device 100 as described above, the content display based on the operation executed in each terminal device 100 is displayed. It is necessary to synchronize with. The operation on the work screen can be performed by either the organizer terminal device 100a or the participant terminal device 100b, except in the case of imposing restrictions to be described later. Here, for convenience of explanation, the operation is performed on the organizer terminal device 100a. The case where operation is synchronized in the participant terminal device 100b will be described as an example.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the synchronization operation of content display.
Referring to FIG. 11, the organizer first designates a predetermined location on the work screen as an attention location in collaborative work on the organizer terminal device 100 a (step 1101). The point of interest is designated by clicking the corresponding part on the work screen with a mouse. Then, the organizer clicks a “notice point notice” button 802 on the command panel 810 on the work screen with a mouse. Thereby, a request for notifying the attention location on the work screen is transmitted to the collaboration server 200 (step 1102). This request includes information for specifying the position of the point of interest on the web page as the work screen and the name of the point of interest. The name of the point of interest can be given arbitrarily, but for example, serial numbers may be assigned in the order in which the point of interest is set in the joint work.

  In the collaboration server 200 that has received this request, the web request analysis unit 214 analyzes the request. Then, the cache page generation unit 213 reads the HTML file cached in the web page storage unit 241 via the session management unit 231 and the web page control unit 232, and writes an anchor tag according to the content of the request. (Step 1103). The HTML file in which the anchor tag is written in response to the request is stored again in the web page storage unit 241 as the latest cache data.

Here, the writing of the anchor tag to the HTML file will be described in detail.
As described above, there are two types of anchor tags written in the HTML file in the present embodiment: dynamic anchors and history anchors.
A dynamic anchor is given a fixed name (the name can be arbitrary, but here it is assumed that the name “Now” is given). Each time a request is transmitted from the terminal device 100 to the collaboration server 200 by clicking the “notice point notification” button 802, the dynamic anchor is located at a position on the HTML file corresponding to the point of interest specified by the request. Moving.
On the other hand, the history anchor is given a name included in the request transmitted from the terminal device 100 to the collaboration server 200 (here, a serial number is used as the name included in the request. Names such as “Part 1”, “Part 2”,... Each time a request is transmitted by clicking the “notice point notice” button 802, the history anchor is additionally written at a position on the HTML file corresponding to the notice point designated by the request.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing how dynamic anchors and history anchors are written to an HTML file in response to a request from the “notice point of interest” button 802.
First, it is assumed that a predetermined location on the work screen is specified and a request by the “notice location notice” button 802 is transmitted to the collaboration server 200. Then, in response to this request, as shown in FIG. 12A, the dynamic anchor <ANCHOR “Now”> and the history anchor <ANCHOR “part 1” are placed at the corresponding positions in the HTML file on the work screen. > Is described.

Next, it is assumed that another part of the work screen is specified and a request by the “notice point of interest notification” button 802 is transmitted to the collaboration server 200. Then, in response to this request, as shown in FIG. 12B, the dynamic anchor <ANCHOR “Now”> moves to the corresponding position in the HTML file on the work screen. In addition, the history anchor <ANCHOR “part 2”> is added at the same position. Therefore, two history anchors <ANCHOR “part 1”>, <ANCHOR “part 2”> and one dynamic anchor <ANCHOR “Now”> are described in the HTML file.
In general, every time a noticed point is notified, a history anchor is added to the HTML file, and a dynamic anchor is described at the position of the last added history anchor.

  Next, consider the case of returning to a point of interest that has been noted in the past. For example, when the attention location is returned to the position of the history anchor <ANCHOR “part 1”> again from the state of FIG. 12B, a command is sent to the collaboration server 200 using a display method of the web browser and a chat message. There is a method. In the method performed on the display screen of the web browser, the terminal device 100 designates a location corresponding to the history anchor <ANCHOR “part 1”> specified in the past on the work screen, for example, and designates a “notice location notice” button 802 By clicking, a command to return to the location corresponding to the history anchor <ANCHOR “part 1”> is transmitted to the web server unit 211 of the web server component 210. In addition, a return button (tool) for transmitting a command for returning to the past attention location may be set in the command panel 810. A method for transmitting a command to the collaboration server 200 using a chat message will be described later.

  In the collaboration server 200 that has received the command for returning to the past attention location, as shown in FIG. 12C, the dynamic anchor <ANCHOR “part 1”>, which is the corresponding position in the HTML file, is placed at the dynamic anchor < Move ANCHOR “Now”>. As a result, the current point of interest has returned to the point corresponding to the history anchor <ANCHOR “Part 1”>.

  Now, after the anchor tag of the HTML file is updated as described above, the command processing unit 234 of the collaboration server 200 calls the chat command generation unit 225. The chat command generation unit 225 creates a command message for reloading the web page that is the work screen in each terminal device 100, and transmits the command message to the chat server 300 via the chat client unit 221 (step 1104).

The chat server 300 transmits this command message (chat message) to each terminal device 100 participating in the chat session based on the session management table, and stores it in the chat content storage unit 330 (step 1105).
In each terminal device 100, the web page is reloaded based on the received chat message, and the work screen is updated (step 1106). The operation of extracting the reload command from the chat message, reloading the web page, and updating the work screen is automatically performed by the helper if the terminal device 100 is equipped with the helper. A method for extracting a URL from a chat message by a helper will be described later.
When no helper is installed in the terminal device 100, in each terminal device 100, the chat control unit 140 displays the chat message received from the chat server 300 in the chat window, and the user of the terminal device 100 is displayed. Based on the chat message, the web display control unit 120 is operated to reload the web page of the work screen cached in the collaboration server 200 and display it on the work screen display window.

In the above description, the operation to synchronize the content display has been described by taking as an example the case where the setting of the attention location performed on the organizer terminal device 100a is reflected on the participant terminal device 100b. Needless to say, it can also be performed in the terminal device 100b. However, regarding the setting of the point of interest,
(A) It can be set only on the organizer terminal device 100a.
(B) In principle, it can be set only on the organizer terminal device 100a, and can be set from the participant terminal device 100b when the organizer permits it.
You can also impose such restrictions. These restrictions can be realized by the control of the session management unit 231. In addition, information indicating whether or not the setting of the attention location by the participant terminal device 100b is restricted can be registered and managed in the session management table.

In the case of the restriction as shown in (B), it is necessary to provide the organizer terminal device 100a with a function of permitting the setting of the attention location by the participant terminal device 100b. Specifically, for example, a command panel 810 is provided with an “Allow attention location setting” button, and when this button is clicked, a command for allowing the participant terminal device 100 b to set the attention location is displayed on the organizer terminal device 100 a. To the collaboration server 200. Then, in the collaboration server 200 that has received this command, the session management unit 231 releases the restriction on the attention location setting.
It should be noted that the restriction in (B) is expanded so that the setting of the point of interest can be individually permitted for each participant terminal device 100b, and only the organizer terminal device 100a and the permitted participant terminal device 100b are set. You may perform control that can be performed.

(3) Chat log storage In the present embodiment, a chat system is used as a communication means between participants in a joint work. The conversation (text) in the chat is stored as a log in the storage device of each terminal device 100, the chat log storage unit 243 of the collaboration server 200, the chat content storage unit 330 of the chat server 300, and the like. As a chat log used as a means, a log stored in the collaboration server 200 is useful.

Further, in this embodiment, in order to make the correspondence between the contents of the collaborative work and the information exchanged in the chat in detail, the log of the chat performed when paying attention to the predetermined part of the work screen is set as the target part. Let's save it in association.
FIG. 13 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the association between a chat log and a point of interest.
As shown in FIG. 13, in the chat text temporarily held by the chat recording unit 223 of the collaboration server 200 when the attention location moves (that is, a new attention location is set) in the joint work, The portion (indicated by the broken line in the figure) from the time when the current point of interest (<ANCHOR “Part 1”> in the figure) is set to the time when the new point of interest (<ANCHOR “Part 2”> in the figure) is set The enclosed portion) is made into a file and stored in the chat log storage unit 243. Then, the text file of the chat log is associated with the point of interest (<ANCHOR “part 1”>).

The specific association method is not particularly limited. For example, in the case where the terminal device 100 is a system that can use a high-function web browser such as a personal computer, JavaScript (trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.) or the like can be used in a web page. By using a mechanism for performing dynamic processing, it is possible to correlate the text of the chat log with the attention location on the work screen. Thereby, when it is going to refer to the chat log relevant to a desired attention location in the display device of the terminal device 100, a popup window is displayed in the vicinity of the attention location, and the popup window is associated with the attention location. The chat log can be displayed.
FIG. 14 shows a display example when a chat log is displayed in a pop-up window.
As shown in the figure, a chat log is displayed in a pop-up window 1401.

On the other hand, in the case of a system having a low-function web browser such as a PDA or a mobile phone, the text of the chat log can be associated with the spot on the work screen by linking the spot on the web page. That is, when the point of interest moves, the chat log management unit 233 assigns a URL to the text file stored in the chat log storage unit 243. When the cache page generation unit 213 writes an anchor tag in the HTML file, a link to the URL is further described. Thereby, when it is going to refer to the chat log related to a desired attention location on the display device of the terminal device 100, the window for displaying the web page is jumped to the text file of the chat log associated with the attention location. Can be displayed.
FIG. 15 shows a display example when jumping from a work screen to a text file of a chat log.
As shown in the figure, the chat log is displayed in a window 1501 separate from the work screen.

  Further, in the terminal device 100, when it is intended to refer to the chat log associated with the point of interest, a command can be transmitted from the terminal device 100 to the collaboration server 200 by a chat message. In other words, the user of the terminal device 100 designates a past desired attention location by information indicating the number of times of attention from the present time, information such as the name of a history anchor, and the like in a predetermined format described later. Then, a chat message including a command requesting to return (move) the current attention location to the designated location is described and transmitted. The chat message is analyzed by the chat text analysis unit 222 and the command analysis unit 224 in the collaboration server 200. Thereafter, a command obtained as an analysis result is sent to the command processing unit 234, and based on the command, a chat log associated with a designated past attention location stored in the chat log storage unit 243 is stored. It is read out and distributed to each terminal device 100.

Next, a method for extracting commands from chat text necessary for progress control of collaborative work using the chat system according to the present embodiment will be described.
The extraction of the command from the chat text is executed in the collaboration server 200 participating as a client in the chat session and also executed in the terminal device 100 in which the helper function is implemented.
As a basic method, a predetermined reserved word is added to the head of a chat message for transmitting a command. The reserved word can be arbitrarily set. For example, the reserved word when transmitting a command to the collaboration server 200 is “Command:”, and the work screen is updated to the helper of the terminal device 100 (reloading the web page). The reserved word when transmitting a command for executing is “Helper:”. That is, if the chat message starts with “Command:”, it can be determined that the command is for the collaboration server 200, and if it starts with “Helper:”, it can be determined that the command is for the terminal device 100. Hereinafter, the operations of the collaboration server 200 and the helper of the terminal device 100 for the chat message will be described on the assumption that the reserved words are set as described above.

First, the operation in the collaboration server 200 will be described.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the flow of message processing in the collaboration server 200.
As shown in FIG. 16, when receiving the chat message (step 1601), the chat client unit 221 of the collaboration server 200 first determines the sender of the chat message based on HTTP_USER_AGENT (user agent) or the like (step 1602). . When the sender is the collaboration server 200 itself, it is determined that the content of the chat message is a message for controlling the progress of collaborative work such as warning and notification, and the chat message is discarded by ignoring the text ( Step 1607).

  If the sender of the chat message is the terminal device 100, the chat text analysis unit 222 next checks whether the chat message starts with the reserved word “Command:” (step 1603). If it does not start with the reserved word “Command:”, it is determined as a normal chat message exchanged between the terminal devices 100 and is held by the chat recording unit 223 (step 1609). As described above, the chat message held in the chat recording unit 223 is stored in the chat log storage unit 243 in association with each target location as the target location moves.

  If the chat message starts with the reserved word “Command:”, since the chat message is a command for the collaboration server 200, the command analysis unit 224 next analyzes the content of the command (step 1604). If the collaboration server 200 can execute an appropriate command, the command analysis unit 224 passes the command to the command processing unit 234 of the control layer. Then, a component necessary for processing based on the command is called by the command processing unit 234, and processing is executed (steps 1605 and 1606). Then, the text of the chat message including the command is discarded (step 1607).

  On the other hand, as a result of command analysis, if the command is not an appropriate command, the chat command generation unit 225 issues a warning message that the command cannot be executed because it is an illegal command (step 1608). This message is distributed to each terminal device 100 as a chat message. Then, the text of the chat message including the command is discarded (step 1607).

As an example of command transmission by a chat message, there is transmission of a reference request for a chat log associated with the above-mentioned point of interest. In this case, for example, if you want to go back to the place of the history anchor <ANCHOR “part 2”> and refer to the chat log,

Command: back to part 2

Write a chat message like this and send it. This chat message is determined to be a command to the collaboration server 200 based on the top “Command:”, and the content of “back to part 2” is analyzed.

Next, the operation of the helper of the terminal device 100 will be described.
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an overall flow of message processing in the terminal device 100.
As shown in FIG. 17, when the communication unit 110 of the terminal device 100 receives the chat message and is accepted by the chat control unit 140, the helper of the web display control unit 120 acquires the chat message from the chat control unit 140. (Step 1701), the sender of the chat message is determined based on HTTP_USER_AGENT (user agent) or the like (Step 1702). When the sender is the terminal device 100, it is determined that the chat message is a normal chat message exchanged between the terminal devices 100, and the text included in the message is ignored (step 1707). As a result, the text is displayed in the chat window displayed on the display device of the terminal device 100 under the control of the chat control unit 140 (step 1709).

  If the sender of the chat message is the collaboration server 200, then the helper checks whether the chat message starts with the reserved word “Helper:” (step 1703). If the reserved word “Helper:” does not begin, the content of the chat message is a general notification message such as a warning from the collaboration server 200 to each terminal device 100 (not a command for controlling the progress of collaborative work). ) And ignore the text (step 1707). As a result, the text is displayed in the chat window displayed on the display device of the terminal device 100 under the control of the chat control unit 140 (step 1709).

  If the chat message starts with the reserved word “Helper:”, the chat message is a command for controlling the progress of the collaborative work to be processed by the helper, and the helper then analyzes the content of the command ( Step 1704). If the web display control unit 120 is an appropriate command that can be executed, the helper sends control information based on the command to the web browser (steps 1705 and 1706). Thereby, display control (reloading, opening a window, etc.) of the web page which is a work screen is performed.

  On the other hand, if the command is not an appropriate command as a result of command analysis, the helper issues a warning message indicating that the command cannot be executed because it is an invalid command (step 1708). This message is sent to the chat controller 140 and displayed in the chat window displayed on the display device of the terminal device 100 (step 1709).

  When the terminal device 100 does not have a helper installed or when the helper cannot be used due to inferior processing capability, the above-described chat message analysis and automatic web browser control are naturally performed by the helper. Not. In that case, the chat message including the command to the helper is displayed in the chat window in the same manner as the normal chat message. Therefore, the user of the terminal device 100 reads the message displayed in the chat window, and can perform the collaborative work by performing necessary operations such as reloading the work screen according to the content of the message. .

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a chat log when a reload instruction is issued to each terminal device 100 as an example of command transmission using a chat message.
The chat message 1801 described in FIG. 18 is a reload instruction command. As shown,

Helper: reload

When the chat message is delivered, the terminal device 100 with the helper determines that the helper is a command to the terminal device 100 by “Helper:” at the head of the chat message, and analyzes the content of “reload”. To do.
When the point of interest moves, an information message as shown in the chat message 1802 in FIG. 18 can be transmitted from the collaboration server 200 in order to clearly show the break of the chat to the user of the terminal device 100.

As described above, according to the collaboration system of the present embodiment, when a point of interest is set on a predetermined terminal device 100, the attention is obtained by reloading a web page that is a work screen in each terminal device 100. The location is displayed at the top of the work screen. For this reason, even when the display sizes and resolutions of the display devices of the terminal devices 100 participating in the joint work are different, it is possible to keep the point of interest always displayed on the screen in all the terminal devices 100 (work). Screen synchronization).
FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a work screen is displayed on a display device having a different resolution in the present embodiment.
In FIG. 19, when a predetermined location (star in the figure: asterisk in the figure) is identified as an attention location on the work screen displayed on the high-resolution terminal device A, the attention location becomes the work screen by reloading the work screen. Since it is always displayed, it is possible to easily know what is on the work screen in the joint work.

  In this embodiment, in order to synchronize the work screen by reloading the web page that is the work screen, in the chat using the collaboration server 200 and each terminal device 100 as a client, each terminal device is sent from the collaboration server 200 by a chat message. By making a work screen reload request to 100, the progress of the joint work can be controlled. Accordingly, the terminal device 100 only needs to be installed with a general web browser and a chat application, and does not need a special application program for synchronizing the work screens. In addition, since the types of OS, web browser, and chat application are not limited, even a low information device such as a PDA or a mobile phone can easily participate in the system of this embodiment as the terminal device 100.

  Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the data transmitted / received between the devices is an HTML file that constitutes a web page, its URL, HTTP request and response, chat data, etc., so the amount of data is small, and communication traffic Can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the collaboration system by this embodiment. It is the figure which showed typically the example of the hardware constitutions of the computer apparatus suitable for implement | achieving the terminal device and each server in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the terminal device which comprises the collaboration system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the terminal device which comprises the collaboration system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the collaboration server which comprises the collaboration system of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a session management table. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the chat server which comprises the collaboration system of this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the aspect of the tool in this embodiment, and is a figure which shows a mode that the "sharing start" button and the "notice location notice" button are arrange | positioned using the frame. It is a figure which illustrates the mode of the tool in this embodiment, and is a figure which shows a mode that the "sharing start" button and the "notice location notice" button are arrange | positioned in another window. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation | movement at the time of the start of the collaborative work by this embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the operation | movement of the synchronization of the content display by this embodiment. In this embodiment, it is a figure which shows a mode that a dynamic anchor and a history anchor are written in an HTML file according to the request by the "notice point notice" button. It is a figure which shows notionally correlation with the chat log in this embodiment, and an attention location. In this embodiment, it is a figure which shows the example of a display in case a chat log is displayed on a pop-up window. It is a figure which shows the example of a display in the case of jumping from the work screen to the text file of a chat log in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the message process in the collaboration server of this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the whole flow of the message process in the terminal device of this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the chat log when the reload instruction | indication is performed to each terminal device as an example of command transmission by the chat message in this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the mode of the tool in this embodiment, and is a figure which shows a mode that the "sharing start" button and the "notice location notice" button are arrange | positioned in another window. It is a figure which shows the example which displayed the work screen with the display apparatus of a different resolution in the conventional collaboration system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... CPU (Central Processing Unit), 13 ... Main memory, 14 ... Video card, 15 ... Magnetic disk unit (HDD), 16 ... Network interface, 19 ... Keyboard / mouse, 20 ... Display, 100 ... Terminal 110, communication unit, 120 ... web display control unit, 130 ... editing unit, 140 ... chat control unit, 200 ... collaboration server, 210 ... web page component, 211 ... web server unit, 212 ... web client unit, 213 ... Cache page generation unit, 214 ... Web request analysis unit, 215 ... Command panel display unit, 220 ... Chat component, 221 ... Chat client unit, 222 ... Chat text analysis unit, 223 ... Chat recording unit, 224 ... Command analysis unit, 2 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 ... Chat command production | generation part, 231 ... Session management part, 232 ... Web page control part, 233 ... Chat log management part, 234 ... Command processing part, 241 ... Web page storage part, 242 ... Session management table storage part, 243 ... Chat log storage unit, 300 ... chat server, 310 ... session management unit, 320 ... message transmission / reception unit, 330 ... chat content storage unit

Claims (19)

In a collaboration server connected to a plurality of terminal devices via a network and supporting joint work by the plurality of terminal devices,
A work screen control unit that acquires and holds a web page and distributes it as a work screen used for joint work by the terminal device;
A chat function execution unit for participating as a chat client in a chat performed between the plurality of terminal devices,
The collaboration function execution unit distributes an operation instruction for the work screen to the terminal device as a chat message. In response to a request from the terminal device, the work screen control unit updates the data file of the web page being held,
The chat function execution unit distributes, as a chat message, an instruction that prompts the terminal device to reload the web page, which is the work screen, when an operation is performed on the data file by the work screen control unit. The collaboration server according to claim 1, wherein:   The work screen control unit receives a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page from the terminal device, and attaches an anchor tag to the data file of the web page corresponding to the location designated by the request. 3. The collaboration server according to claim 2, wherein the name of the anchor tag is added to a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the data file while writing.   Each time the work screen control unit accepts a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page from the terminal device, the anchor tag is changed to the location designated by the request without changing the name. The collaboration server according to claim 3, wherein the collaboration server is moved to a corresponding position on the data file.   Each time the work screen control unit receives a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page from the terminal device, the work screen control unit anchors the data file of the web page corresponding to the location designated by the request. The collaboration server according to claim 2, wherein a tag is additionally written. The chat function execution unit holds a log of text exchanged in the chat,
After the work screen control unit has received a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page, the work screen control unit is made until the next time a request made by designating another location on the web page is accepted. 6. The collaboration server according to claim 5, wherein a chat log is associated with the anchor tag corresponding to the predetermined location on the web page.   The chat function execution unit analyzes text exchanged in the chat to check whether a command for the collaboration server is included, and if such a command is included, analyzes the content of the command. The collaboration server according to claim 1, wherein a process based on the command is executed by a control unit of the collaboration server.   The chat function execution unit generates a chat message describing an operation instruction for the work screen in a command format readable by a control unit of a web browser provided in the terminal device, and distributes the chat message to the terminal device. The collaboration server according to claim 1. In a collaboration system that supports collaborative work by multiple terminal devices connected by a network,
A collaboration server that acquires and holds a web page and distributes it as a work screen used for joint work by the terminal device;
A chat server for managing chat sessions,
The collaboration system, wherein the collaboration server participates as a chat client in a chat session managed by the chat server.   The collaboration system according to claim 9, wherein the collaboration server generates a chat message including an operation instruction for the work screen and transmits the chat message to the chat server. The collaboration server is
In response to a request from the terminal device, work screen control means for updating the data file of the web page that is held;
Chat message generating means for generating a chat message including an instruction to prompt the terminal device to reload the web page as the work screen when an operation is performed on the data file by the work screen control means; The collaboration system according to claim 10, further comprising: The collaboration server is
Request accepting means for accepting a request from the terminal device;
After the request accepting means accepts a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page, it is exchanged in chat until a request made by designating another location on the web page is accepted next time. 10. The collaboration system according to claim 9, further comprising storage means for storing a log of the text that has been recorded in association with the predetermined location on the web page. The collaboration server is
Analyzing the text exchanged in the chat to determine whether a command for the collaboration server is included, and if such a command is included, an analysis means for analyzing the command,
The collaboration system according to claim 9, further comprising a control unit that executes processing based on the command recognized by the analysis unit.   The chat server includes a storage device storing a session management table for registering the identification information of a session in chat and the identification information of a client participating in the session in association with each other, and the identification information of the collaboration server is stored in the client The collaboration system according to claim 9, wherein the collaboration system is registered in the session management table. A collaborative work support method for supporting collaborative work by a plurality of terminal devices by a collaboration server connected to the plurality of terminal devices via a network,
A first step in which the collaboration server distributes a web page, which is a work screen of joint work stored in a storage device, to the plurality of terminal devices;
A second step in which the collaboration server receives a request from the predetermined terminal device, updates the data file of the web page based on the request, and stores the data file in the storage device;
The collaboration server transmits an instruction for prompting the plurality of terminal devices to reload the web page, which is the work screen, as a chat message of chat in which the collaboration server and each terminal device participate as clients. A collaborative work support method comprising: steps.   In the second step, the collaboration server accepts a request made by designating a predetermined location on the web page from the terminal device, and the data of the web page corresponding to the location designated by the request 16. The collaborative work support method according to claim 15, wherein an anchor tag is written in the file, and the name of the anchor tag is added to a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the data file. The second step includes
Receiving a chat message transmitted from the terminal device in the chat, and analyzing the text of the chat message;
As a result of analyzing the text, if the text is a command, analyzing the content of the command;
The collaborative work support method according to claim 15, further comprising: executing a process requested by the command based on a result of the analysis of the command. Computer
Acquire and hold a web page, distribute it as a work screen used for collaborative work by a plurality of terminal devices connected by a network, and hold the data file of the web page held in response to a request from the terminal device Work screen control means for updating
When the chat performed between the plurality of terminal devices participates as a chat client and the data screen is updated by the work screen control means, an operation instruction for the work screen is sent to the terminal device as a chat message. A program that functions as a chat function execution means for distribution.   As a function of the chat function execution means, the computer analyzes the text exchanged in the chat to check whether a command for the collaboration server is included, and if such a command is included, The program according to claim 18, wherein the contents of the command are analyzed.

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